Category: Fourre-tout

On Sunday, November 13, La Pétanque Marinière hosted a mêlée tournament. Nothing unusual about that, except that it was pretty cold that day, and as the saying goes “only mad dogs and Englishmen go out on a frigid day.”

So, being neither an Englishman nor a mad dog, I decided to stay in bed a little longer and not expose my delicate body to the biting cold of November. I showed up at 10:30 am and I was glad I did it. By then the sun was shining, but the temperature never went above 62° F and after 4:00 pm, when the sun disappeared behind the Civic Center, it became extremely cold again.

Upon my arrival to the field, I checked the bulletin board and noticed that only 20 people signed up for this event. Brave or loopy individuals I thought…

Anyway, 2 games were to be played in the morning and 3 more in the afternoon. The players were few, but their caliber was high, even very good.

I particularly noticed Mireille Di Maio, who at 86  is still pointing like a champ. But she has had a lot of practice… she probably started playing petanque when most of you were not even born… She teamed up with “Eddy la Mitraille” and together they proved a fearsome formation.

My good friend Ann played with Dennis Casad, who is also a good player besides being a dog lover. A big plus in my book.
If you pay attention, you might notice a few pictures of Dennis and his pooch named Yaya in my accompanying photo album. A very friendly and playful beast.

Our friend Shama didn’t play but took care of the entrance fees and the scores. Besides doing an excellent job, I noticed that she was also a great ambassador for the game and gladly answered questions about pétanque from passersby. We love you Shama.

Ben Pierce who played with Tamara seemed to be handicapped with the flu and was wearing a mask. This didn’t prevent him from doing an excellent shooting job and helping Tamara in her glory quest.

I also noticed the fellow (unknown to me) who was playing with Richard Bell. I noticed him because he was an excellent player, but also because he was probably out of his mind. When the temperature was hovering around 50/55° F, he kept playing in a short sleeves shirt without minding the cold. Could he have been on some mind-altering substance? Who knows…

Cynthia Heinricks (mindless of the cold), accompanied by her daughter also paid us a visit. She introduced many of us to her daughter and chatted excitedly with everybody. Good to see you, Cynthia.

The tournament ended mercifully around 4:30 pm, but not before Cristine Cragg and Ron Rohlfes settled their score with Richard Bell and the short sleeves guy (Rick Ziesche I found out).

It was a fight to the death that finally ended late in the afternoon with Richard and Rick defeating Ron and Christine 13/12.

Final results:

1^st place: Mireille Di Maio & Eddy Pay
2^nd place: Jerry Wilkinson & Steven Payette
3^rd place: Tamara Efron & Ben Pierce

Alain

PS: don’t forget to look at the pictures

Last Tuesday I went for another Covid-19 booster shot. Unlike the previous occurrences, it left me a little woozy and irritable, and 3 days after the deed my arm is still sore and itchy.

Your mood and your thinking are very often controlled by your body’s shenanigans. When you don’t feel well, you are more likely to be bad-tempered and uncooperative. If the condition persists, you might even become permanently depressed and misanthropic. But be careful…

“A sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker, than a germ.” John Steinbeck

So, when you meet somebody, instead of the ritual “hello” or any other kind of greeting, it seems reasonable to me to start a conversation with a friendly “how do you feel?”. If the other person does not respond reassuringly, avoid asking for money or any other favor.

The same goes for diplomacy. Before negotiating any deal, diplomats should enquire about each other’s health. If they don’t get a positive answer, they should postpone the deal… or have a few drinks prior to negotiating. For instance, do not try to parley with Putin unless you have been assured that he had a few shots of vodka ahead of time.

In America, we just voted, and many people cast their ballots angrily because of the cost of living. Egged on by a red-hatted second-rate politico, they blamed Joe Biden for that. Joe does not have anything to do with this. The real culprit is Vladimir Putin, with his reckless war with Ukraine. Everybody should know by now, that Ukraine has not been called “the granary of Europe” for nothing.

Unbeknown to many, it has fed the world for decades and has always been the envy of its big neighbor. The only way to stop inflation is to force Putin to back off or vanish.

 “The right to vote is not the expression of a mood, it is a decision with regard to one’s country, with regard to its children.” Jacques Chirac

 Alain

Every morning I watch American news on ABC and French news on TV5. And not surprisingly, the content of these 2 broadcasts can be widely different.

Right now, America is preoccupied with midterms elections and Ukraine. The French are paying more attention to Iran and its convulsions.

In Iran and Russia, the leadership picked fights with the wrong adversaries. After Russia’s blatant aggression against Ukraine, the determined neighbor had no intention to throw in the towel and is punching back ferociously. Any idiot (listen up Vladimir) knows that it is always better to “let sleeping dogs lie.”

After 40 years of mullahs’ petty harassment, Iranians are finally waking up and protesting the persecution of the “Holier than thou” clerics and the hated “morality police”.

These last few weeks the Islamic Republic of Iran has been shaken off its foundations by angry mobs demanding an end to the subjugation and marginalization of women. And it’s not only women urging the end of this nefarious “theocracy”; men are also joining in, demanding an end to this barbaric oppression.

Mullahs are now the target of their former disciples. I watched with glee on television young passersby harassing their former tormentors and knocking off their turbans.

There is nothing more nefarious than a theocracy. Under the guise of piety, religious bullies are grabbing power and imposing absurd rules to control every aspect of their countrymen’s lives. Thankfully, the clergy is now losing ground in educated democracies around the world and toning down their crude rhetoric.

“I believe in an America … where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches, or any other ecclesiastical source.” ~ John F. Kennedy

Amen!

Iranians should know that few people around the world are fond of meddling clergy. After the French Revolution of 1789, “approximately thirty thousand priests had been forced to leave France, and several hundred who did not leave were executed.” 

In Iran, the ruling class headed by a powerful (and antiquated) “Supreme Leader” does not give a damn about common people or women. The Shah was no pussycat, but the mullahs are much worse.

It is my fervent hope that the Iranians will succeed in overthrowing their present leaders and start anew with a real democracy “a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of state, typically through elected representatives.”

Democracy, fragile democracy is in trouble around the world, and in America. If you don’t want red-hatted fanatics to take over and take away your basic rights, hurry to the voting booths and cast your vote. Every single vote counts!

Alain